2. Keep adventuring in the Quad until you get the Quad Dispersal encounter. Eh, change will come another day, man.

METHOD 3: Deal with Dr. Myers

1a. Adventure in the Quad without any etheric effect, find the Bored Guy and "ask him what's up" to learn that the crowd is protesting Dr. Myers' involvement in a Midgard experiment supposedly on an endangered species.

1b. Alternatively, if you have access to the Tainted Shoreline, adventure there without etheric and talk to Andrea the grad student to find out about Dr. Myers (NOTE: the linked choice encounter page is not complete, but I believe you just ask her what she's doing and she'll refer you).

2. Once you've heard about Dr. Myers, go to Combine Labs next to the Quad and talk to him in his office.

"play to win" and (if you do), ask "how about that watch?" - he will flee to the quad

continue to chase him in the quad, making sure you have a protest sign equipped and a high enough will stat (hypothesized - if correct, 6 will is not enough. see the will page for ways to buff your will)

So long as you don't catch him before this (in a variety of ways), you can catch the fleeing pool shark by choosing "claim he's with midgard" in that encounter. If you meet the above requirements, the crowd will beat him to a pulp as you grab the watch.

4. at the Quad: Quad Crackdown. After you gave them an excuse, the security has viciously suppressed the riot.

Finish

Talk to the bartender again.

Rewards and Results

Replaces the Quad (During Protest) encounters with a different set.
Grants access to the VIP Room in The Happy Hour (whether or not you talked to the bartender beforehand).
If you used Method 3, Dr. Myers will no longer be in the labs. However, you can still contact him via the contacts page, so this has no known effect.

Quest Log

Starting quest

You've been asked to help calm down the protests in the Quad by the bartender at the Happy Hour.

Looks like the protest is still in full swing. Lots of guards everywhere, but they seem to be holding back.

After inciting the crowd to riot enough

You've been asked to help calm down the protests in the Quad by the bartender at the Happy Hour.

Looks like the protesters are finally going in to all out riot mode. This can't sustain itself for long.